The business behind the show

The Morning Fix: Oscar recap! 'Act of Valor' on top of box office.

February 27, 2012 | 7:37
am

After the coffee. Before seeing if the Oscars cracked 35 million viewers.

The Skinny: I went old school and watched the Oscars without tweeting. It really made the show drag. The reason social networking boosts ratings for big events is everyone wants to top each other's snarky remarks. Monday's headlines include lots of Oscar recaps, box office results and a new deal for Netflix.

Daily Dose: The Oscars attracts one of the biggest female audiences in television. With that in mind, one would have thought ABC would have used the opportunity to put together a promotional spot for Katie Couric's new talk show that will air on many of its stations. While it's true that Couric's afternoon talker won't debut until September, when is ABC going to have such a platform to build some buzz for it? Overall, ABC was fairly restrained in the self-promotion department, running only 10 spots in the 3-1/2-half hour snoozefest.

Tongue-tied. Silent movie "The Artist" took away the biggest trophies at the 84th annual Oscar awards Sunday night. That doesn't mean the show was not without some surprises -- the biggest being Meryl Streep's win for best actress in "The Iron Lady." It may seem silly to think of a Streep win as an upset. Still, with 17 nominations, it was only her third win. That stat is similar to Bronco quarterback Tim Tebow's less-than-stellar completion percentage. See if you can find anyone else today who compares Streep to Tebow. Oscar recaps and analysis from the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline Hollywood and Wrap.

Thumbs down. Watching Billy Crystal host the Oscars was a lot like watching Brett Favre in his final season. There were a few flashes of the old brilliance but overall his routine seemed tired and in the end he wasn't able to make make the clutch plays. I promise that's my last football analogy. The New York Times said the "whole night looked like an AARP pep rally." I personally was distracted by Crystal's jet black hair and wrinkle-free face. I don't think young viewers are turned off by older people, but they are turned off older people trying to turn the clock back 30 years. It's not all Crystal's fault. Hosting the Oscars is a thankless task and Crystal was thrown in late because of the Eddie Murphy fiasco. The real issue is that the show is produced for the people in the theater, not the people watching at home. Reviews from the Los Angeles Times, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, New York Times and Deadline Hollywood.

It's Harvey time. Another big night for Harvey Weinstein as The Weinstein Co.'s "The Artist" cleaned up. Perhaps anticipating the success, Weinstein took a pre-show victory lap with the Daily Beast with columnist and former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan. I only browsed the piece but it didn't look like she included Weinstein's habit of having super-powerful Hollywood attorney Bert Fields send letters to reporters who might be writing something the producer won't like. I've been thinking of having mine framed. It's sort of a rite of passage.

Valiant performance. "Act of Valor" finished in the top spot at the box office, taking in almost $25 million. Tyler Perry's "Good Deeds" opened to a respectable but not spectacular $16 million. "Wanderlust" and "Gone" will both be on Netflix pretty quick. Among the returning movies, "The Vow" and "Safe House" continued to post strong numbers. Box office recaps from the Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal.

Maybe I'll buy it. Lions Gate Entertainment is shopping the TV Guide Channel, a little-watched cable network that used to be just listings of shows but now carries reruns and reality fare. The New York Post said CBS and Discovery are interested. Of course, CBS and Discovery are among the usual suspects anytime a media property comes on the market so I'd take that with a small grain of salt. Not saying it couldn't be true, but they would naturally look at the books for the channel even if they had no interest at all.

Habla Espanol? Netflix is near a deal with Univision Communications to stream content from the Spanish broadcasting giant, according to Bloomberg. Hulu already has a similar deal in place with Univision.

Inside the Los Angeles Times: If you were stuck at home watching the Oscars, here's what you missed backstage at Hollywood's big night.